REFUGEE support campaign group Care4Calais published an open letter yesterday, signed by 30 top trade union leaders, demanding Safe Passage to the UK.
Tory plans to incarcerate asylum seekers on ferries, barges and military bases were announced by Immigration minister Robert Jenrick in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.
He was speaking the day after PM Sunak confirmed that child refugees will be locked up in these hulks and barracks too.
Jenrick said each military site will house 1,500-2,000 refugees, while the government is going to use a ‘giant barge’ capable of holding hundreds of people.
He countered concerns about the gruesome conditions which are likely to prevail by welcoming their ‘deterrent effect’ on people arriving in small boats.
Sunak had told the House of Commons Liaison Committee on Tuesday that children will not be exempted from his incarceration plans for those who cross the Channel in small boats to prevent the creation of a ‘pull factor’.
The government’s new Illegal Migration Bill is currently being debated in Parliament.
The Care4Calais open letter concludes: ‘On 9th December 2022, PCS (civil servants union) wrote to the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and the Home Office Permanent Secretary, Matthew Rycroft, calling for the adoption of the safe passage policy and for negotiations with the Home Office staff union on its implementation.
‘Instead of seizing that solution, on 13 December 2022, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, doubled down on the demonisation of vulnerable refugees. The folly of this approach was tragically exposed one day later with a further four deaths in the Channel.
‘The citizens of the UK are facing a cost-of-living crisis due to the catastrophic failure of the government to build a society in which ordinary people prosper. This is not an accident. It is the result of conscious political choices that have driven down wages, cut public services to the bone and drained the economy of life.
‘Instead of facing up to the consequences of their actions, the government acts to criminalise refugees and make them scapegoats for the cost-of-living crisis. In this regard, the working class in the UK and refugees coming to our shores have a common oppressor.
‘We should not allow the government to divide us and we should not fall for its ruse. The UK is the sixth richest economy on the planet and can afford to take care of its own citizens and take its fair share of refugees.
‘In fact, an aging demographic, coupled with labour shortages, means that granting asylum and enabling refugees to become productive citizens in this country will help it prosper. This must be reinforced by proper collective bargaining arrangements with trade unions across all sectors of the economy to ensure minimum standards on wages and terms and conditions. An adoption of this approach will prevent the exploitation of workers, no matter where they are from.’
It concluded: ‘We call for:
- the government to adopt the Safe Passage Policy as the solution to the Channel crossings;
- dismantling of the hostile environment for refugees and its replacement with an asylum system based on humanity;
- workers in the UK and refugees to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with one another in the fight for a better future for all.’
The letter was signed by Mark Serwotka General Secretary PCS, Claire Moseley Care4Calais, Sharon Graham (Unite), Christina McAnea (Unison), Dave Ward (CWU), Kevin Courtney (NEU), Dr Jo Grady (UCU), Matt Wrack (FBU), Owen Reidy (ICTU), Ellie Peers (Writers’ Guild), Tim Rose (Nationwide Group Staff Union), Paul Fleming (Equity), Gawain Little (General Federation of Trade Unions), Mick Whelan (ASLEF), Chris Kitchen (NUM), Michelle Stanistreet (NUJ), and 15 others.